While pleased
that the controversial arsenic-based wood preservative, chromated copper
arsenate (CCA), is being phased out, victims express concern that EPA
will neither immediately nor fully stop public exposure to CCA and all
the hazardous wood preservatives.

(Washington, D.C.,
February 12, 2002) As the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces
a voluntary agreement with the wood preserving industry to phase-out certain
uses of the most popular arsenic-based wood preservative, chromated copper
arsenate (CCA), those who have been poisoned are saying that the agency
should stop compromising with the public's health and ban all uses of
all hazardous wood preservatives immediately. Late last year 13 national,
regional and state environmental groups petitioned EPA to ban CCA and
the dioxin-laden pentachlorophenol.

While the groups welcome
any action that reduces continued exposure to these chemicals, which are
linked to cancer, nervous system damage and birth defects, they say that
there is no justification to allow continued public exposure because alternative
materials are available.

"Nothing short
of a ban of all uses of the hazardous wood preservatives will protect
the public from the chemical's short and long term adverse health effects,"
said Jay Feldman, Executive Director of Beyond Pesticides/National Coalition
Against the Misuse of Pesticides. "Since less toxic and non-toxic
alternatives are available for all wood preservative uses, it is wrong
and unnecessary to allow any use to continue," said Mr. Feldman.
EPA has a history of striking compromises on pesticides. In 2000, despite
headlines indicating the "banning" of two organophosphate pesticides,
chlorpyrifos and diazinon, EPA's decision left on the market many uses
that account for a majority of the chemicals' overall poundage, and the
phase-out period leaves consumers and the public inadequately protected
while stocks are being sold off or used in unsuspecting people's homes
and businesses.

In addition, according
to Mr. Feldman, "The continued presence of CCA and pentachlorophenol
wood products in existing structures and their eventual disposal creates
potential for ongoing human and environmental exposures," which are
not addressed by the agreement.

It is estimated that
the voluntary industry phase down of residential CCA wood affects about
5% of the highly toxic wood preservative market, according to Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP.
CCA, overall, accounts for approximately 10% of the market, when including
the other hazardous wood preservatives, penta and creosote. In the latest
data available from the American Wood Preservatives Institute's 1995 statistical
report, 1.6 billion pounds of wood preservatives are used to treat wood,
138 million pounds of CCA, 656 million pounds of penta and 825 million
pounds of creosote. The vast majority of wood preserving arsenic, penta
and creosote are used in a broad array of products from utility poles
to railroad ties.

Wood Preservative Victims

Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP
maintains a database of people who are willing to share their stories
associated with the tragedy of wood preservative poisoning. The following
are examples of wood preservative poisonings. Please contact Beyond Pesticides/NCAMP
if you would like to contact these or other people.

Rick Feutz, Seattle
WA. In the late 1980's, Rick Feutz decided to build a wooden float for
his children to swim off of at their lakefront property near Seattle,
WA. After a few days of sawing and hammering pressure-treated CCA wood,
he came down with flu-like symptoms and even collapsed once. By the end
of the week, he was numb from the neck down. For the next year, Mr. Feutz
could only walk with a walker and was so disoriented in the dark that
he had to crawl. Like most people, he did not realize that the wood was
pumped up with a pesticide. He says if had known the wood was treated
with arsenic, he would not have used it. Fifteen years later, the signs
of neurological damage remain. Mr. Feutz suffers from memory loss, weakness
and partial paralysis in his face. (St. Petersburg Times, March 11, 2001
and Gainesville Sun, March 25, 2001.)

Laurie Walker, Salt
Lake City, UT. In 1995, Ms. Walker was helping her husband build a wooden
fence treated with CCA. While unloading a truck full of fence posts, the
36-year old woman got splinters in her hand, which swelled unlike anything
she had ever seen. The infection became so bad that two fingers had to
be amputated. Ms. Walker has filed a lawsuit, which is still pending.
(St. Petersburg Times, March 11, 2001 and Gainesville Sun, March 25, 2001.)

Wayne Chaulk, M.D.,
Newfoundland Canada. During the summer of 2001, Dr. Wayne Chaulk, a general
practitioner began building a deck of pressure treated CCA wood in his
backyard. On the weekend of July 1, while the deck was still under construction,
Cassy, a three-month old puppy, the much-loved pet of Dr. Chaulk's five-year-old
granddaughter Mykaela, arrived at Chaulk's house at about 8:30am. After
chewing on a piece of CCA treated wood, Cassy was dead by 9:00am. Dr.
Chaulk says if he could do it over he would use cedar, spruce, or pine
- anything but wood treated with an arsenic-based wood preservative. (The
Telegram (St. Johns), July 21, 2001.)

Larry Parker, Columbus,
OH. Larry Parker, a carpenter, worked with CCA-treated wood for 22 years.
Beginning in 1999, Mr. Parker began to experience fainting spells. He
ceased his wood work until he began to feel better, about five months
later. In August 2000, after resuming his carpentry, weakness and fatigue
took over his body. As time progressed, Mr. Parker was subject to painful
swelling, congestive heart failure, high blood pressure, ulcers and cellulitis.
While he continues to suffer difficulties, his wife, Anna Parker, is speaking
out about the dangers of the wood that harmed her husband.

Shirley Simpson, North
Little Rock, AR. As a result of the contamination caused by their neighbor,
one of the largest producers of chemically-treated wood products, Koppers
Industries, Inc., Shirley Simpson and the other members of her community
are working to force the company clean up its act. Koppers produces chemically
treated railroad ties and utility poles. Studies conducted by both EPA
and the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) have found
elevated levels of creosote, pentachlorophenol and arsenic, one of the
constituents of chromated copper arsenate (CCA), in the local ground water.
All of these chemicals are linked to cancer; arsenic is a known human
carcinogen. Ms. Simpson can recount many horrible stories about the emissions
coming from the Koppers plant. One recent example of a poisoning incident
was on a clear day in August 1999, when Ms. Simpson and a neighbor were
walking through the neighborhood and were overwhelmed with fumes coming
from the plant. It instantly burned their eyes, nose and throat. By the
time they arrived at Ms. Simpson's house she could hardly talk. The doctor
stated that from all indications it was clear that she was chemically
poisoned, but could not verify the chemicals without extensive testing.

Johnny Shelton, Cullman,
AL. Mr. Shelton worked in a pole treatment plant and was "waist deep
in the stuff." Mr. Shelton had to go into the retort chamber to hook
up cable to pull out cars of freshly treated logs. The fumes burned his
lungs. He was told to wash off immediately, but was not provided with
any protective clothing. His employers told him offhandedly that it might
make him sterile, cause birth defects, and cancer. His son was born with
birth defects and now faces losing a leg. Although he has left that wood
treatment job, he now works for a cable company and regularly climbs penta-treated
poles that seep the dangerous chemical.

J.D. Morris, Billings,
MT. During the summer of 1997, after J.D. Morris, his wife and four children
moved into their home, they noticed that the wooden deck attached to the
back of their house emitted a chemical stink. Warm weather heated the
deck and volatilized the chemicals in it. The Morris children began to
complain about irritated, watering eyes, headaches and feelings of nausea
as the fumes came in through their open windows. On closer inspection
Mr. Morris determined that his deck was constructed of milled cross-arms
from utility poles. Mr. Morris decided to have a sample of the wood taken
from his deck and analyzed by a laboratory that tests for pesticides and
other types of synthetic chemicals. The lab found high levels of phenolic
compounds (over 150,000 ug/kg), components of the wood preservative creosote
in the wood sample. Since then, Mr. Morris's twelve-year-old son has been
suffering from almost constant headaches and regular bouts of nausea,
for which he has to take daily medication. In addition, a dermatologist
has recommended that Mr. Morris have a biopsy conducted on an inch wide
discolored and swollen persistent sore on his hand. The Morris' cannot
afford at this time to have the deck removed and disposed of (a local
environmental organization estimated that it would cost approximately
$80,000 to clean up the mess created by the wooden deck). Mr. Morris is
pursuing a legal solution to his problem, asking that the local real estate
interests take responsibility for removing the deck and cleaning up the
environment. Mr. Morris notes that other houses in his area have decks
that appear to be made from wood treated with creosote.

Steve Yokum, Lincoln,
MI. Steve Yokom and other active members of his community have been working
to get a power generating plant that burns chipped, treated wood to stop
polluting the air. Most of the chipped treated wood that is burned is
treated with creosote, some with pentachlorophenol. As a result of their
efforts, Viking Energy stopped the wood chipping operation at the plant
in early 2000 and has not received a permit to burn CCA treated wood,
along with other demolition and construction waste. However, even without
the chipping operation, massive amounts of toxic wood dust from the huge
pile of chipped wood is blown across the area. It is not uncommon for
the area around the plant to have a strong chemical smell, so strong that
people riding down the road that runs along side the plant report that
it can take their breath away. Since Consumers Power began burning treated
wood in 1997, the residents of Lincoln have experienced an elevation in
ailments linked to acute and chronic exposure to creosote and penta. People
suffer from burning eyes and irritated skin. The asthma rate has increased
dramatically in recent years. A large number of people in the community
regularly experience cluster headaches, an incapacitating type of migraine.
Mr. Yokom is concerned about other communities that are facing similar
situations, including the McBain power plant in Cadillac, MI, which has
received a permit to burn CCA treated wood.

BrightSpirit, Davenport,
WA. As a cable TV installer for Cox Cable Company in Spokane, WA, BrightSpirit
climbed 10 to 30 utility poles a day. When she began in 1982, at age 18,
BrightSpirit was not familiar with the names or hazards of the chemicals
that are pumped into the poles that she climbed, but she soon became very
familiar with the strong chemical smell that stuck to her clothes and
skin, the smell of pentachlorophenol. Penta is absorbed readily by lung,
skin and stomach. Workers handling penta treated wood receive the most
significant exposure first through skin contact and second through the
air. BrightSpirit suffered from a consistent rash on her skin during her
time as a pole climber. Skin contact with penta is known to cause both
contact dermatitis and chloracne. She attributes her daughter's learning
disabilities and development problems to her exposure to penta while pregnant.

Deborah Barrie, Smith
Falls, Ontario, Canada. Deborah Barrie was continually exposed to arsenic
since 1989 while her next-door neighbor burned CCA-treated wood. Over
the past 13 years, she has suffered numerous health effects from breathing
in the drifting toxic fumes. Among other infirmities, Ms. Barrie has dealt
with respiratory, dermal and gastro conditions as well as cancer. She
currently suffers from serious circulation damage due to arsenic poisoning,
and is in danger of losing her arm and shoulder as a result.

Jimmy Sipes, U.S.
Forest Service, Indiana. Jimmy Sipes, now 57, encountered CCA-treated
wood in 1983 while building picnic tables for the U.S. Forest Service
in Indiana. Mr. Sipes, who thought the wood was treated with salt, experienced
severe vomiting. In one episode, he lost half the blood in his body. Believing
that he had recovered from a rare disease, Mr. Sipes returned to work
a year later, only to have the symptoms return. Source: St. Petersburg
Times, March 11, 2001.

O.J. Murrhee, Clay
County, FL. O.J. Murrhee, former sheriff of Clay County, FL, kept two
prize racehorses in an area fenced with CCA-treated wood. After chewing
on the fence, both horses died of arsenic and chromium poisoning. Mr.
Murrhee won a lawsuit against the agricultural supply store and the lumber
company that treated the wood. Recognizing the danger that CCA-treated
wood poses to animals, several zoos, including the Smithsonian Institution's
National Zoo in Washington, DC and Disney's Animal Kingdom in Orlando,
FL, do not use the hazardous wood. Source: Gainesville Sun, March 25,
2001.

Jeannette and Amanda
Averett, Durham, NC. After constructing a deck made from CCA-treated wood
for her farmhouse outside of Durham, NC, Jeannette Averett burned the
remaining scrap wood and tossed the ashes in the cow pasture. Two days
later, cows were staggering and falling over. Nine died from what was
confirmed to be arsenic poisoning from eating the ashes. The Averetts
were paid $4,000 by Lowe's for the cows, but this was not Jeanette's primary
concern. As she was dealing with the burden of nine dead cows, Jeanette's
two-year old daughter, Amanda had come down with serious stomach cramps.
Fearing the cramps might be linked to the arsenic in the ashes that Amanda
had run through barefoot, Jeanette had her tested. Blood tests confirmed
elevated arsenic levels in her blood. Although the cramps went away, the
Averetts still worry about the long-term cancer risk. Source: Gainesville
Sun, March 25, 2001.

Timothy Skaggs, Arcata,
CA. Tim Skaggs died on October 17, 1991 at the age of 41 from acute lymphoblastic
leukemia. Tim worked for Simpson Lumber Company at its Arcata mill starting
at age 21. His initial employment as a night shift laborer included assignments
to the paint line department where he handled and sawed lumber treated
with Woodlife, a penta wood preservative manufactured and sold to Simpson
by Champion. Mr. Skaggs' exposure to this dangerous and defective chemical
during 1971 through late 1972 followed by the diagnosis of leukemia in
Tim some 17 years after being exposed to this known carcinogen was consistent
with the latency period for this type of chemically induced cancer. The
California State Department of Health's report of that investigation documented
three leukemias, and one non-Hodgkin's lymphoma at the Arcata plant. Source:
Dioxin in pentachlorophenol: A case study of cancer deaths in the lumber
industry, 1996.

Toxie Myers, Pinole,
California. Toxie Myers and his wife were exposed and poisoned with pentachlorophenol
when a State of California subcontractor dumped truckloads of tons of
rotting penta treated guardrail posts next door to their home. The state
denied the salvaged hazardous waste was theirs until it was proved to
be a method of illegally disposing of dangerous chemical waste. When Mr.
Myers discovered how dangerous the dump was, he appealed to many government
agencies and boards, giving them known scientific and medication information.
He was met with government unresponsiveness and inaction, in what he believes
had been a cover-up of a dangerous government crime. As this is written,
Ms. Myers is hospitalized from major surgery for removal of her bladder
and other organs because of cancer. The Myers attribute the cancer to
her penta exposure.

Construction workers,
Monterey, California. Construction workers developed symptoms consistent
with acute arsenic poisoning while building a public fishing pier with
CCA lumber. (Department of Health Services for the State of California,
Evaluation of Hazards Posed by the Use of Wood Preservatives on Playground
Equipment (1987). Report to the legislature.)